Ask Steve Costello, Ben Hall, and Bill King your best question

Okay City of Houston Republicans, here is your chance. Your chance to ask three of the candidates for mayor of Houston your own, best question to help you decide whom to vote for.

Join the Greater Houston Pachyderm Club this Tuesday at noon at Tony’s restaurant in Greenway Plaza as we host several of the leading mayoral candidates in this November’s elections. This week we have scheduled Steve Costello, Ben Hall and Bill King.

The meeting will be held Tuesday, October 6th, at Tony’s Restaurant at 3755 Richmond Avenue. Tony’s website can be found at www.tonyshouston.com. Reservations are not required.

Lunch will be served from a limited choice menu for $25 at 11:30 am; the meeting begins at noon. You are asked to pay by check or with exact change at the meeting, or pay on-line with a credit card or PayPal. A $1 charge is added to this service to cover the costs.

Please print and bring your e-mail receipt with you to the luncheon.

These three are the only candidates amongst the 17 running that are actively vying for Republican votes. Two of them, Costello and King, identify more or less as Republicans, with Hall being a Democrat.

So, Mr. or Mrs. Republican, how do you decide between them? Why not ask them a question or three about something that you care about?

For instance, here is what I would ask each candidate.

Steve Costello – You were Mayor Parker’s point man behind the “rain tax”, also known as Rebuild or Renew Houston and have made support for the tax a pillar of your campaign. The Texas Supreme Court has ruled that the ballot language used for approval of the tax was misleading and confusing to voters. If elected mayor, would you put the tax back on the ballot with clear, concise language explaining that it is a tax? If not, would you continue the practice of putting misleading and confusing items on the ballot in order to get the vote to go your way?

Ben Hall – Your record clearly shows that you are a Democrat, having voted for Democrats and funded Democratic candidates. A two part question – why are you a Democrat and why should a Republican vote for someone that clearly doesn’t identify with the overall philosophy of the Republican Party?

Bill King – In your book Unapologetically Moderate, you support the idea of sanctuary cities and mock those voters who think that the rise in so-called “anchor babies” is detrimental to the city, state, and country. Given that Houston has policies in place that proclaim it to be a “sanctuary city”, if you are elected mayor, will you continue those policies as is or will you expand them to encourage more illegal immigrants to settle in the city?

You may have better questions than that or have issues that are more important to you. This is your chance to get them answered.